Packard Bell notebooks. Are they any good ?

Been looking for some info/reviews on Packard Bell notebooks but cannot seem to find any.

Does anyone have any news on these guys ???

Thanks

http://www.packardbell.dk/products/node1821.asp?partnumber=PB37R00091 ($1,500 USD)

 

They're not offered in the US, need someone in Europe to give feedback on this. They've come up in the past here, but I don't think anything substantial one way or the other has come out.

 

Half a year ago or so I was reading a review of a PackardBell 13" model (maybe it was in German). My conclusion was that it is not good enough for the money. I remember that there were some critical comments about it (the keyboard and touchpad quality and some others). I have also seen it in the shop and it was looking rather cheap. At that time it was possible to find for the same money something better in terms of build quality and performance.

If you are looking for a budget model, I think that MSI notebooks MSI S260 or S270 are much better alternative for practically the same money.

Please tell me which PackardBell laptop has attracted your attention and will try to suggest a better alternative in the same class.

A couple of weeks ago I actually was in Copenhagen and I remember that the laptop prices I have seen there in the shops were more expensive than in Germany. I would suggest buying from a German internet reseller as an option.

BTW, how much are you going to pay for the model you have provided a link to?

 

New Napa notebook from Packar Bell!

Packard Bell Easynote V7, with ATI Radeon X1600, 15,4" 1280x800,
1399 Euro
(from http://www.zdnet.de/mobile/notebooks/0,39023137,39140196-2,00.htm
in German)

 

Packard bell rebadges mainly Mitac laptops, which are OK generic oem systems.

For most customers, they have an extremely good reliable spares department which is actually verry reasonable.

You unfortunately have to go through one of their agents, unfortunately (which we are one of)

Most of their systems were reasonably ok, the only really awful one was the f5 and F7 systems they can only be described as rubbish.

Regards
Philip Mc Donald
http://www.sparesweb.com

 

Packard Bell the worst brand on the world.

The 10 Worst PCs of All Time
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129857/article.html.

I got one and really suffered from it.

 

I remember that former Radio Shack (now known as The Source by Circuit City) here in Canada used to sell Packard Bell computers for high prices than Futureshop for the exact or lower specs (and they were probably used parts anyways).

But, all I can say the words "Packard Bell" made my brother make a face of disgust and then laughed his head off for asking whether they were good computers. I would try looking around at other companies (like the ones mentioned on this forum) for a notebook.

 

I wouldn't buy another Packard Bell laptop ever again, even if my life depended on it.

I'm currently using a PB iPower 5000 series II which I got around 4-5 years ago, and within the first 2 years of use, the battery was already dead (although I still have it lying around), the bloatware was unbelievable (I had to format, install XP and find all the drivers to set up a clean OS) and the adapter/laptop itself heat up like a fireball.

 

Well, i live in Denmark, and here Packard Bell are considered one of the best Notebooks you can get.

I own a PB mx36, with a Celeron m420 1.6Gh, 1GB Ram, 120GB HD, 15.4" LCD, Webcam, Vista Premium and so on.

The built is actually better than Acer, which are considered a budget notebook in Denmark.

They are even more expensive than Toshiba what is hard to believe, i think.

But, for my own notebook, it just died on my, and is in for repair under warranty. (New motherboard, i guess )

Over an out!

 

My last laptop was PB EasyNote R9252 (PM 1.86 2M 533/ 1 GB Ram/ GF6200Go 256Mb) until it died about 2 months ago. Actually, it is not completely dead, GPU is the cause. I'm still able to turn it on, but just to see 1024x768 resolution stretched over 1280x800 screen - horrible. And very painful at the same time, because i loved this laptop. It was actually nicely designed and not badly built system! The fan was sucking air from under the keyboard, thus allowing to put laptop on any surface without risk of frying it, which i think is very clever. One of my favourite features was a little in-built subwoofer, providing outstanding quality of sound when compared to any other laptop. The only problem was flimsy chassis box - i could feel how the whole laptop bends when carried in a shoulder bag. Still, it survived a serious crash when it fell on a floor, which not many others would survive (i only had to solder a new lid closing switch) The battery is still alive, holds for about an hour. For two years it had been a very nice companion and it's a pity that now I have to take it apart and sell whatever I can. I feel like a murderer...

 

And I went to buy another EasyNote, but when i made it to the store it was already gone...

 

Good thing too. Packard Bell isn't a good brand...